Marzocchi
888 R
2004 Front Shocks

Product Description

What if you closed your eyes and thought of a fork that possessed all the needs, wants, and desires of today's extreme riders? What would appear in the deepest, darkest corners of your mind? Marzocchi closed their eyes and then developed the all-new and radically dark Triple 8 dual crown fork - for those of you who want your darkest desires fulfilled.

User Reviews

Weaknesses: Sometimes a little bit of sticktion when they get hot on Alpine descents

Bottom Line:

8 years in, many horrific stacks, for 6 of those it was my only bike and did everything aprox 10 hours of downhill per week, now only doing 3 weeks in the Alps and a dozen or so uplift weekends per year. Only serviced 5 times in 8 years and required 1 replacement rebound cartridge and 1 compression cartridge because O rings had blown. They still look good and feel like day one, despite having been down everything in Austria and France including the megavalanche track at flat out race speeds. I reckon that makes them a great value for money product that still outperform later variants.

Weaknesses: Heavy and sucks up jumps when doing gaps. It is better for drops.

Bottom Line:

Good simple fork. I had it overhauled once and ride it a lot. I am 230 lb and jump it ten feet a lot. No problems for the fork. I maxed the compression and put in heavier oil for my weight. Max out the rebound for climbing and if you go really slow you get to the top eventually.

If they didn't need so much maintenance, I'd be very happy but after a month of hard riding, they become spongy and have to go back to the shop. I clean them, I don't spray pressure washers in stupid places yet they still die....

Strengths: For being NIB forks and costing 350, That is a strength let alone. Super strong. Super stiff. Super reliable. Still havent changed my seals or oil yet and its been a year.

Weaknesses: Nothing. I guess marzocchi didnt remember that people were too stupid to read the instructions, hence the cracked lowers. Thats not really a weakness tho, just the riders weakness.

Bottom Line:

These forks rock. I havent changed the oil yet, They will fit literally any frame on the market. And I mean any. You cant do that with most other forks. I ran into a hidden 2ft tall cement drain pipe when I was doing a creek run at my favorite trail, popped both tires, bottomed forks and rear. Nothing happened. That was it. No snapping, no cracks. Ive beatin the hell out of these forks and they still ride like new. Im getting new lowers put on to keep them going, they are that good. People who say they cracked the lowers are puttin way too much torque down. I tighten the piss out of my stuff and never had a problem. If you broke a lower spend the 150 and get some new stronger 2007 lowers. Not that hard. People complain about problems, I would like to see some rock shox or manitous take the abuse these have. A+

when these forks are working they feel nice, no stiction nicley tuneable but they break, I have now snapped a stanchion and the rh bolt on the top crown has sheared twice! for the money these forks cost they should be much, much stronger. buy a shiver or monster...

It has now been a full year after i purchased the fork.It still feels amazing, very plush, but once you use around half of the travel the compression adjuster kicks in and thus the fork becomes bottomcless. The rebound adjustment make this fork easy to HUCK off of a 20 footer and not worry about the dreaded "KLANK" of a fork that bottoms out. The external adjustments also make this fork very versatile, you could go from dirt jumps to freeride hucks, straight to the race track, and the fork wont even flinch!!! IT is reasonable in weight at a sturdy 7.8 pounds, and i enjoy the tall axle to crown height because it feels at home going down any technical descent, or any sketchy rock gardens. This fork is the best all around dual crown fork out there, and you can score one for cheap on pinkbike.com.

Strengths: Everything. Long travel. Stiff. Easy to work on. Great Fork

Weaknesses: Nothing. Besides black getting too dirty. White wouldnt show dirt as much. Loudness. It is quite loud at times when rebounding.

Bottom Line:

Great for. DOnt listed to all these negs. Ive taken a 10 and 4 20 foot drops. Forks still on. Still ridable. I rip the hell out of trails, ride urban, and dirt jump on my dh. Never had a probelm. Even rocketed my bike 30 feet in the air from a 14 foot lip. Came down, bounced about 5 times and landed on sanctions. No scraches, no dings. Went out to ride today, beat em up on a huge 2 mile rock garden. soacked everything up. I wont use another fork. Tested, and true. Marzocchi rocks. I used their bmx forx for quite some time, and now these. Also use bombers also. LOVE ALL. Try em. Wont get rid of them.

O last comment. If the people that say they break were right, then why did specialized put them on their demo 9's. HUH. They test everything to days end to make sure its worthy. And it was. Hense why it came standard on a 4k+ bike. They woulda gone to fox if they saw such better ferformance to price ratio. To this day they still come stock with 888's so do the big hit 2's. Nuf said. Im out gonna go ride some more.

Bike Setup: Azonic EliminatorProfile Cranks.888'sintense mags on xtr rear with custom front. (profile cassette coming soon to rear) and a bunch of other stuff. Too lazy to spend time listing.

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Keith Bayard
a Downhiller
from B.C., CANADA

Date Reviewed: July 16, 2006

Strengths: This is an updated review, from a while back, now i have been able to fully appreciate this fork. SO amazing-unlimited adjustment, smooth, feel, very sturdy, soaks up bumbs like nothing, tons of travel at 8 inches, stealthy look, lighter than monsters,AMAZING

Weaknesses: could use some lowering crowns, do not like the red decals(so i put on some new gold and silver decals.)

Bottom Line:

This fork is rock solid, cheap compared to any other new double crown fork, reliable, plush, smooth, and very low maintenence for its extreme capibilities, i would recomend this double crown over any other fork you have in mind, when you think of an amazing long travel double crown fork, think of a 888.

Strengths: Structurally very strong in all areas. Looks really nice. Composite steerer tube. Great adjustability, which really works. Paint is hard to chip or scratch. Smooth travel, internals are reliable (mine has been in constant use for nearly 3 years). Great customer service.

Weaknesses: Crowns would be better flat, but now you can buy the marzocchi flat crowns for not much.

Bottom Line:

These forks (in fact, all marzocchi products) can not be beaten for reliability. I spent a lot of time deciding between a 888 and a boxxer, and I ended up with the 888. Boxxers work perfectly well for only a short time but a marzocchi will be working perfectly even 3 years out of the box. I also gained lots of confidence in my riding because I knew that my fork would hold up through anything I could throw at it.Boxxers are great too but they aren't as reliable. Manitou's are reliable but they are heavy. 888's are perfect =)